iCloud Email on custom domain - Users outside my Apple Family?

In an effort to see if iCloud custom domains would be a viable option for my family, I just went through the effort of setting a second iCloud+ account, and unfortunately it appears to be impossible to share custom domains across iCloud families, which unfortunately means you're restricted to a hard cap of 6 user in a family sharing setup. This outcome makes it unsuitable for a situation like mine and the original poster where we have cross-generation users that aren't and should be in the same family sharing environments, not to mention more than 6 people.

One option I guess, is to create a proxy family account, add aliases for all outside users, and set up automatic mail forwarding filters for each user on the proxy account https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/icloud/mm6b1a3960/icloud. This only enables forwarding to existing outside accounts, but it is better than nothing. And it still might break for bcc'ed emails depending on whether it can filter on the address the received the email, rather than the address in the to / cc field.

I still won't be able to use it though, due to the lack of catch-all support.

I suspect this will get more traction.

Google just announced that they're going to start charging their GSuite legacy users (includes email). My current plan allows 25 users with e-mail (and Drive and other associated Google services) for free.

Naturally, once I heard the news, I started to investigate what my options were. Truth be told, I was contemplating moving away from Google prior to this due to their creepy nature.

I have 4 members in my Family Sharing group, but 3 others who use my domain but aren't part of my group (my sisters and father - they can pay for their own stuff, thanks). I'd like to at least forward their e-mail to whatever they choose to replace Gmail with (or still to a Gmail address), but it appears I cannot.

Apple should allow the forwarding of other "non-Family Sharing" users to other e-mail addresses (like Gmail or Outlook or whatever).

Otherwise, my domain is limited to just 6 users for e-mail if I move it over.

Hello, pinnatus!

We appreciate you clarifying your question with us. In Family Sharing you are allowed up to six members to join regardless of what the email domain is. We recommend checking out this link for more information on how many members you can add to Family Sharing and how to perform the process: Set up Family Sharing - Apple Support and Family Sharing - Apple

You can also start another Family Sharing group for the remaining members. That being said, we highly recommend leaving feedback on this particular topic. Your feedback is vital to Apple's goal of finding new ways to improve products and services: Product Feedback - Apple

Kindest regards!

I have this same question as well and I don't believe you've effectively answered.

Here's my scenario:

I have 6 users on my customer email domain. Two are adult children who live on their own but still want to use our family email address. They have their own AppleIDs and are not a part of our Family Sharing nor should they be.

The remaining 4 users are my wife and I and 2 younger children who are a part of Family Sharing.

The tool to migrate the customer domain auto-identifies those users who are a part of the Family Share but not those that are not.

You cannot move part of an email domain; it's an all or nothing proposition.

So, then the question is how do you or when do you have the opportunity in the process to add non-Family Sharing users to the custom domain option?

Thanks!

I’m in the same position. I have 12 family members who have been using our family domain with the legacy Google offering but it will be too expensive to continue. So far, the best solution is to get a cheap hosting plan at Namecheap or Bluehost with unlimited storage and unlimited email addresses. The plan I found is about $50 per year. I don’t think we can do that with iCloud Plus. I wish because everyone has iPhones. If anyone has any other suggestions I have until July to find a home.

Hey there, and welcome to Apple Support Communities, pinnatus!

From our understanding, you would like to add new members to your Family Sharing group. We can certainly understand your concern and can help provide some insight.

We recommend checking out this link for more information on how to add new members to your family sharing: Set up Family Sharing - Apple Support

Let us know if that helps and kindest regards!

Hi, pinnatus!

We appreciate your time and patience working with us. Just to clarify, are you trying to add more people to your Family Sharing that are in another region or on a custom email domain? If not, can you explain to us in more detail what you are looking to do?

We thank you for your answers, they will help guide us to the next step.

Kindest regards!

Similarly, I set up a brand new domain and would like to give addresses out to family members, some on my family sharing plan, and some not. I created the email addresses, but they just show up on my personal email and I'm not able to find any instructions about how to assign them to users individually.

I have the same question. I have a family domain that users the family surname. My wife and my kids have a family share. My parents have their own as do my brothers.

Can the lead account on each family share Italian the same custom domain so that we can all have our email addresses?

did anyone else test this out?

Hi,

we all have the same questions here!

In my case I already use Office365 to share my domain (that are the same as our Family name).

I would like to stop using office365 and move it to Apple.

I have one adult daughter that now pays for her own App purchases etc and hence cannot be part of “our Apple family”.

I just want to “authorize” her to use the same domain that I add to the Apple eco-system!

Best Regards

I got the same question, both me and my twin brother uses the same domain (also a surname-domain). We both got our own families today so his not part of my apple-family. Can I set up email forwarding for his adress without inviting him to my apple family or setting up an extra dummy family member? I doesn't want to embark on this journey in vain risking to lose emails on the way unless I'm sure it will work. Otherwise I'll just stay on our G-Suite setup we have today.

Same situation. 6 people in my immediate family group. I also have some extended family members using custom domain emails (family name domain). I'd like a way for them to continue using the domain name emails. Even a forwarding hack would work for now, but ideally they would all have full SMTP/IMAP access.

I moved over from GSuite because they will start charging for the new Google Workspace, and I already pay for iCould+ so I figured why not. Now I'm dealing with this user cap which is not good. Looking for a quick resolution - for domain emails they ought to allow more accounts, but I am sure Apple is trying to avoidt people running, for example, a 25-person small business on a single iCould+ account.